San Francisco 49ers

49ers' Lynch shakes off injuries to match sack total from rookie year

Published Nov. 9, 2015 8:30 p.m. ET

foxsports

Aaron Lynch was down on more than one occasion Sunday but he refused to let injuries keep him out.

The second-year linebacker shook off a rolled ankle and dislocated finger to help the San Francisco 49ers turn in one of their best defensive efforts in a 17-16 victory over the Atlanta Falcons.

“Aaron has come a long way, and he’s got a long way to go,” 49ers coach Jim Tomsula said of Lynch. “He’s ascending, and I think his ceiling his high."

A fifth-round draft pick out of South Florida in 2014, Lynch registered his team-high sixth sack - double the total of any other San Francisco player - and matched his total from his rookie year, when he appeared in all 16 games. Lynch also help the 49ers limit Atlanta's Devonta Freeman, the league's leading rusher, to 12 yards on 12 carries.

"The old saying with potential, you’ve got to reach it. And he is working to it right now,” Tomsula said of Lynch, who has eight sacks in his last 10 games at Levi's Stadium.